Brokerages Set WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Price Target at $101.88

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eight analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $101.88.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WEC. StockNews.com cut WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th.

Institutional Trading of WEC Energy Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WEC. Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 15,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,487,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 5,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $547,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206 shares during the period. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC now owns 21,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,028,000 after acquiring an additional 893 shares during the period. Richmond Investment Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter worth $574,000. Finally, Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter worth $2,433,000. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC opened at $104.04 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $97.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.44. WEC Energy Group has a one year low of $76.50 and a one year high of $104.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $32.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group will post 5.23 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.91%.

WEC Energy Group Company Profile

WEC Energy Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides regulated natural gas and electricity, and renewable and nonregulated renewable energy services in the United States. It operates through Wisconsin, Illinois, Other States, Electric Transmission, and Non-Utility Energy Infrastructure segments.